THE THRILL OF IT ALL is next weeks Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4. ‘The Ships’ will be hitting the airwaves at 22:45 on Monday 25th August. Book at Bedtime will then broadcast the rest of the novel at 22:45 every evening on Radio 4 for the following fortnight. For more information, see the BBC’s website here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04f9lmn

THE THRILL OF IT ALL narrates the life-cycle of a band, The Ships, from a first friendship between two students at Luton College in the early 1980s, to their rise on the global stage and beyond. In essence, it’s the tale of four people trapped in the dysfunctional family of a band by the whirlpool of their addiction to music.

In Radio 4’s production, Robbie Goulding the prime mover of the group will be played by Philip Glenister. Ramon Tikaram takes the role of Fran, the band’s brilliantly verbal, sexually protean lead singer. Sister and brother, Trez and Sean, round out the quartet as cellist and drummer and will be voiced by Natasha Little and Shaun Dingwall respectively. Finally, Robbie’s daughter Molly will be played by Jennifer Armour.

Joe’s novels have won prizes including the American Library Association Award, the Irish Poet Award for Fiction, and the Prix Millepages. In 2012 Joe won the Irish PEN Award for outstanding achievement in literature.

THE THRILL OF IT ALL was nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize. It is out now in paperback from Harvill Secker.